Priorities and barriers for ageing well; results from stakeholder workshops in rural and urban Rwanda

The National Older Person’s Policy of 2021 in Rwanda highlights the need for social protection of older populations. However, there is a lack of local knowledge regarding the priorities and challenges to healthy aging faced by older people and their caregivers.

This study aimed to identify and compare the needs and priorities of older people and other stakeholders involved in caring for them in rural and urban areas of Rwanda.

The study was conducted in two locations, Kigali (urban) and Burera district (rural). Each site hosted two separate one-day workshops with older people (60 years) and stakeholders (all ages). Discussions were held in plenary and roundtable-groups to generate a list of the top 4 prioritized responses on areas of importance, priorities/enablers to be addressed, and obstacles to living a healthy and active life for older people. The research team identified similarities between stakeholder and older people’s responses in each area and a socioecological model was used to categorize findings.